The present invention relates to a switch device including a glass switch piece manipulated to cause a roof glass to selectively open and close an opening formed in a sunroof of a vehicle and a shade switch piece manipulated to cause a roof shade to selectively open and close the opening.
Conventionally, a sunroof for a vehicle (Example 1) having a roof glass electrically slid to selectively open and close an opening and a roof shade manually slid to selectively open and close the opening is publicly known. Other types of such publicly known sunroofs include a sunroof for a vehicle (Example 2) configured by adding a tiltable roof glass to the sunroof for a vehicle of Example 1, a sunroof for a vehicle (Example 3) having a fixed roof glass and a roof shade electrically slid to selectively open and close an opening, and a sunroof for a vehicle (Example 4) having a roof glass and a roof shade both electrically slid to selectively open and close an opening.
In the sunroofs of Examples 1 and 3, one of the roof glass and the roof shade is manipulated through a single switch. Accordingly, erroneous manipulation is unlikely to happen when the roof glass or the roof shade is moved to selectively open and close the opening. In the sunroof of Example 2, two functions of a single component, which are sliding and tilting of the roof glass, are achieved through manipulation of two switches. However, since the two switches operate the single component, erroneous manipulations are limited.
In contrast, the sun roof of Example 4 employs separate switches to operate two components, which are the roof glass and the roof shade. This may cause complicated or erroneous switch manipulation. If the roof shade is closed with the roof glass left open, the open state of the roof glass cannot be visibly checked through the roof shade, and the roof glass is likely to be left open. This problem may be solved by, as has been proposed in certain techniques, forming the roof shade using mesh, for example, to allow the roof shade to maintain the roof glass visible through the roof shade when the roof glass is left open.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-11735, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-4521, and Japanese Patent No. 4153821 each describe the sunroof operating the roof glass and the roof shade through separate switches and controlling the roof glass simultaneously with the roof shade to close the opening when the roof shade is moved to close the opening.
However, in the techniques disclosed in these prior art documents, closing of the roof glass is electrically controlled to happen in a manner following closing of the roof shade. This may cause erroneous operation due to noise.